A Coroners Court of Victoria hearing into the death of an Indigenous woman who was arrested for public drunkenness hears the mother of four suffered a traumatic head injury while in custody that likely led to her death.

An Indigenous prisoner who communicated mostly through Aboriginal sign language was "not okay" when he was sent back to his dorm, an inquest into his death hears, with authorities conceding they missed opportunities to intervene because of his deafness.

The grandfather of a 17-year-old boy who died trying to cross the Swan River while fleeing police says he was a happy child who fell in with the wrong crowd when he moved to Perth from a small country town.

A correctional officer who helped restrain Aboriginal prisoner Wayne Fella Morrison, who died three days later, tells a coronial inquest he has "no memory" of what happened but woke up "lying across him".

The Queensland Police Union is labelled "inflammatory" and unhelpful to race relations on Palm Island after it says officers, rather than Indigenous residents, are owed an apology after a record $30 million class action settlement was reachedover a racist police response to riots in 2004.

Almost two years ago, Queensland Police were found to be racist in their response to the 2014 Palm Island riots. The State Government is now agreeing to pay $30 million to settle a class action and will also offer an apology to the community.

Mr Young, whose first name has not been used for cultural reasons, died in hospital in March 2016, nearly a fortnight after falling and hitting his head shortly after an officer roused him from his sleep.

A coronial inquest will examine whether police acted within their powers and fulfilled their duty of care following the death of a man in Darwin, who stumbled and hit his head when he was woken by an officer.

Police launch a critical incident investigation into the death of a 31-year-old Indigenous man who fell from a 13th floor balcony while officers attempted to take him into custody in Sydney's inner-south.